I can't believe it is finally Friday! Last night my friend Lindsey and I went to a fun Girl's Night Cocktail and Jewelry party hosted by my friend Bambi. I always have so much fun when I go over there. The hostess just redid her backyard patio area and it is the perfect outdoor setting for any get together.

And of course you can't have a great cocktail hour without some semi-appropriate napkins. I also loved the wine charms that were available. You can find great cocktail napkins, like these and also holiday ones, as well as decorative wine charms at most any boutique store.

And with those great beverage napkins you have to have a great drink. I found some amazing 4th of July Inspired drinks from Real Simple's blog Simply Stated and a patriotic DIY craft that you can make for you mason jars that I can't wait to try out!

These drinks from Real Simple are beyond festive for the 4th of July Holiday. When it comes to getting the layered look in your drink it is important for your liquids to be of different densities (middle school science class flashback!). The one with the most sugar will fall to the bottom while the one with the least will stay on top (you also will need to pour them in that order).

These DIY drink lids that I found on the blog Two Shades of Pink was another 4th of July inspiration that I could just not pass up sharing. You could even serve your patriotic drinks in them.

Are you going to try any of these drinks for the 4th? Share your favorite holiday/summer inspired drink concoctions below! Don't forget to follow my posts and inspirations on Pinterest @PreppyPlanner and also on Twitter @PreppyPlanner. You will not want to miss out!

The second big red, white and blue summer holiday is coming up next week. When I was younger my family would always throw a huge Fourth of July party at our house inviting what seemed like the whole neighborhood. We had holiday decoration contests for the kids, backyard games, tons of food and per tradition end the night with my dad putting on a fireworks show. We don't host a party like that anymore at our house, but those celebrations were some of my favorites growing up.

This week I found some great red, white and blue flag themed ideas that you can use for your own Fourth of July party.

This bike decoration remind me of the decoration contests we would have at our Fourth of July parties when I was younger. Using simple decorations like streamers, flags and poms you can decorate a wagon, bike or scooter for a festive Fourth of July Parade. You can get great clip-art ideas like this from Sheek Shindigs.

This was one of my favorite flag themed decorations I found. This flag wreath is an easy DIY craft that you can put together and bring out for all your red, white and blue themed holiday parties. To make this all you need is a styrofoam wreath and the mini flag toothpicks. I found this craft on Oodlekadoodle Primitives.

You can't have a Fourth of July party without some festive themed food. Here is a flag themed cake and a fruit cutout watermelon bowl that can add some patriotic flare to your party. I found the flag cake on The Secret Life of a Chef's Wife. For step-by-step instructions on how to make the watermelon bowl click here. I think if you had either of these at your Fourth of July party you can't go wrong.

I think I am going to try my hand at making that flag wreath to display on the front door this year. Are you doing anything for Fourth of July this year? Don't forget you can follow me on Twitter @PreppyPlanner and get some extra party planning planning ideas!

Being asked to be in a friend's wedding is a wonderful honor, however it also comes with a lot of responsibility and a time commitment. As the bride, a nice way to say "thank you" to your bridesmaids is by putting together a small gift that they will be able to hold onto and cherish. This past weekend's wedding Emily, a family friend and I made gifts for each of the bridesmaids to use for the wedding. The gift doesn't have to be anything expensive or store bought. Each of these are easy DIY projects that any bride-to-be could put together.

1. Ribbon Flip Flops

This is an easy craft that you can make for your girls. These flip flops can be bought at any craft or dollar store for under $5 apiece. These were done with ribbon in the wedding colors of navy and pool blue. Each strip of ribbon was tied in a knot onto the strap. You can add as many colors or types of ribbon until the straps are filled. Each of these pairs were tied together with a silver bow so the sets would stay together nicely.

2. Dress Hangers

This DIY craft I made for the girls. The white hanger is the one I made for Emily (the bride) and it says "Mrs.Kline" while the others all say the Bridesmaid's first name.

I bought the hangers as a set of 5 from Bed Bath & Beyond (don't forget your coupon!). For the names I used 14 guage wire that I picked up at the craft store.

The wire is easily to bend. I found it useful to write out the size you wanted to make the letters and to use that as a guide. If you mess up the wire is cheap enough that you can just start again. I decided to paid the hangers so that the writing would show up better. Just remember if you paint the hangers with acrylic paint to also spray them with a sealant so that paint does not rub off onto the dresses. As a final touch I tied ribbon onto the hangers in the wedding colors.

3. Fabric Cluth

The third DIY craft is one that the bride made for all of the bridesmaids as our thank you gift. This is a Martha Stewart Craft that she found on the website. The outside of each girl's purse was the wedding navy color while the interior fabric was custom selected. (If you haven't guessed my favorite color is pink, and doesn't the purse go well with my blog theme?) The bride filled our clutches with various items that we might need the day of the wedding and also made these drop earrings for us to wear on the wedding day.

You can find instructions on what you need to make this clutch on Martha Stewart. You can find a video tutorial that you can follow on how to make them.

As you can see below everything turned out great together! We danced the night away in our flip flops and have great keepsake items that we can use and remember the wedding by.

What have you given or received as thank you gift for being in a wedding?

This weekend I will be attending a bachelorette party for my BFF Meredith's wedding that I will be in in August. To celebrate, this Saturday all the girls will be headed to Charlottesville for some wine tasting. Getting into the wine tasting spirit I thought I would share with you my ten favorite wineries that I have been to or want to go to in Virginia.

Have a favorite winery that you don't see on the list? Let me know in the comments below! Virginis has so many to choose from it was hard to just pick ten! Do you want to find a winery in your area? Virginia Wine is a great site where you can search by region, type of wine, or winery feature. Cheers!

I hope you all had a wonderful weekend! This past weekend my friends Emily and Nathan got married at the lovely Tuckahoe Woman's Club in Richmond, VA. Between the bridal luncheon, rehearsal, rehearsal dinner, and the wedding we were going non-stop the whole weekend. With the wedding being an amazing success and the bride and groom now happily married and off on their honeymoon I couldn't wait to share some of the pictures from the weekend.

A cute chalkboard sign at the bridal luncheon

At the rehearsal for the ceremony

The bride's accessories with a silhouette of her as a little girl

The bridal party's accessories the morning of the wedding (hangers made by me, flip-flops made by the mother of the bride's friend, purses made by the bride)

All the girl's dresses on their hangers(bridesmaid dresses from David's Bridal and wedding dress from Bridal Elegance)

The bride trying to sneak a peak at everyone before the ceremony

The wedding party (and I wish I could tell you what we were all laughing about!)

A garden monogram that was on the gate welcoming everyone into the ceremony garden

Everyone made it to the end of the wedding in one piece and Emily and Nathan both said they could not have asked for a better wedding! My mind is still racing as I saw so many great ideas for future bridal luncheon's, gifts and wedding decorations.

First off I am beyond excited as tomorrow my friends Emily and Nathan will be getting married! Today will be beyond busy as we have the bridal luncheon, rehearsal and rehearsal dinner today plus any last minute errands before tomorrow.

With that I wanted to share a favorite cocktail that will be one of the signature drinks at the wedding tomorrow. I first learned about this cocktail drink from Emily's mother and it is a staple at most any function that the family has. This whisky sour punch recipe is super quick to make for a party (like a wedding!) and any leftovers (if that is possible) can easily be stored in the fridge for later. Enjoy!

Yesterday I shred with you some of the inspiration behind my friend's garden wedding that is coming up this Saturday. While looking at all the pictures I kept finding so many great garden ideas for any type of party. One idea kept jumping out at me that was a perfect garden themed event though, a tea party.

Most every little girl had a make believe tea party with her friends growing up. As grown-ups we can relive those play-times with a real tea party with our friends. When it comes to hosting a tea party outdoors anything goes. You can mix and match your furniture, table lines, and place settings without it looking out of place. A tea party is going to be a primp and proper preppy event no matter what you do, so make sure to have fun with it!

Your invitation for a garden tea party can be whimsical and fun. I found so many great ideas on etsy for this. Here is one by TSK Design Boutique for a tea party bridal shower.

If you have a random variety of chairs and tables a great way to bring them all together is by using a group of solids colors like these pastel ones. I found this great table set up from Join The Gossip.

You cannot have a tea party without tea cups! For a party like this I love when all the cups are different. It brings me back to when I was little and would use anything when I played pretend.

Paper lanterns and flowery garland offer great ways to decorate tents or trees for a garden party. The use of wooden signs is also another low-key way to decorate to fit with your whimsical party style. You can use scraps of fabric and lace to hang up your decorations too.

Metal birdcages with arrangements from the garden offer a garden feel to a garden party and serve as great centerpieces. You can easily spray paint the cage any color you want to fit your theme. For decorating your food displays using lace and ribbon provide a relaxed and garden feel. Lace doilies are cheap and easy to get and with the addition of a printed sticker you have a great food label. I a lot of these great ideas from Kara's Party Ideas.

I have found that you can buy a lot of this type of china and table decor at consignment store, antique stores and flea markets. Nothing has to match so when you find single plates, bowls and cups you can get them at a great price as many people will be looking for sets of items. What would you have at a garden tea party?

Don't forget to follow me on twitter @PreppyPlanner. I share other great event planning ideas that coordinate with my blog post theme that you don't want to miss out on!

First off, happy first day of summer!! Also today is National wear you Lilly day for all those Lilly lovers out there.

This weekend my friend Emily is getting married in the gardens at the Tuckahoe Women's Club with the reception to follow inside their auditorium. Everything for this wedding has a nice relaxed, garden feel with navy, pool blue and white as the colors. As soon as Emily told me what colors and style she wanted for her wedding I went pinning crazy. Instead of bombarding her with ideas that I would run across I created an album that I shared with her so we could both see what each other found. You can view the inspiration album we shared on Pinterest here.

When it comes to a garden wedding you are able to incorporate a lot of the venue's landscaping into your set-up for the ceremony. With most gardens you get the added decoration of the flowers, plants and trees of the area. The best way to add decoration to an outdoor venue like a garden is through lighting.

I found so many great ideas on pinterest when I searched for outdoor garden lighting. Using Christmas lights for an outdoor event, like this, was one of my favorites.

Moving on from outdoor decoration, this garden wedding drew its inspiration from the colors and relaxed feeling that the Bride and Groom wanted. Emily and I found so many great ideas using the wedding colors of navy and pool blue. Here are some of my favorite wedding ideas for this garden wedding:

I love going onto The Perfect Palette to find basic color inspiration. Here we loved all the tiffany and aqua blue accents.

The flowers for the wedding will include a lot of whites and lights blues with babies breath and hydrangeas making up the bouquets.

Standing in for flower vases blue mason jars will be scattered all over the venue. The two of us also loved these stripped straws from BHLDN.

This weekend my BFF Emily is getting married!!!! I am beyond excited for her and her soon-to-be hubby to tie the knot. As the MOH I have been helping with a number of things in preparation for this weekend. My favorite thing to have at a wedding, or any event, are personalized details. This can include such items as a personalized cake topper, event logo, or a personalized favor. With the "DIY" wedding and event ideas everywhere (thank you Pinterest!) adding personalization to an event is an easy thing to do.

This week I have put together ten of my favorite ways that you can personalize an event.

1. Jewelry: Get customized earrings and cuff links for you and your man to wear on your big day.

2. Bathroom Signs: This is a great way to show off a fun picture of the bride and the groom.

3. Napkins: Personalizing your beverage napkins is a great way to incorporate your event colors and your new monogram or your event logo.

4. Save-the-Dates: Coordinating aspects of the bride and groom or how he proposed is a great way to personalize the save-the-dates.

5. Invitations: Just like with the Save-the-Dates, add the couple's personality to the event invitations.

6. Water Bottle Labels: Creating labels to go around water bottles lets you incorporate your event colors, your logo and is an easy DIY project that will dress up the beverages.

7. Signature Drinks: Having a signature drink at your event is a great way to share your favorite drink with all your friends or to come up with a fun one that fits your theme.

8. Lighting: Creating custom lighting like this or just using your colors as up lighting can be a fun way to decorate your event space without worrying about messing up the venue.

9. Ring Pillow: Creating your own ring pillow is an easy sewing craft and something that you can hold onto as a cute wedding memento.

10. Thumb Print Hearts: Having the bride and groom stamp their own thumb hearts (another easy DIY project!) creates a great personalized logo that can be used on favors, programs or menus at the event.

I could go on forever sharing great ways to personalize your event (as would any preppy girl!). You will have to check back on Monday to see some of the personalized details from my friend's wedding this weekend.

What has been your favorite personalized detail at an event you went to?

Happy Monday! I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend celebrating with their dad! I had a busy weekend filled with baseball fun. However, let me just say that I probably will not be going to a baseball game again anytime soon. On Thursday I went with my friend to a Richmond Squirrels baseball game that went for 13 innings and then on Saturday we took my dad to the Nationals game which went 14 innings! They were both fun games, but they just took a little longer than expected.

Did you know that between the top and bottom of the 14th inning that they do another 7th inning stretch? Learned that on Saturday!

Here are some pictures from my weekend for you to enjoy:

At the Squirrels game on Thursday evening.

My sister, brother and I with our dad on the way into the game.

There is always some fun and games when my family ventures out together!

The whole family enjoying the game.

We stopped at Crumbs after the game for a Father's Day treat. We couldn't resist getting one of these cupcakes for Father's Day!

Here is the Father's Day gift that I got for my dad. My dad loves bulldogs and this one will listen quite well!

As you can see we had lots of fun celebrating Father's Day this past weekend. What did you do with your dad this past weekend?

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